A sociopolitical group in the Niger Delta region, One Delta Initiative has kicked against the 14-day ultimatum issued by ex-militants in the region urging the Federal Government to withdraw the nomination of Ms. Lauretta Onochie as Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and replace it with Chief Bernard Okumagba.
In a statement on Monday, the Coordinator of the group, Hon. Akpokiniovo Great Sanomi said that the issuers of the ultimatum threat are “unknowledgeable of the provisions of the NDDC Act”.
It added that by their action, “they had only showcased their ignorance of the discretion of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as it relates to the nomination and appointment of the governing Board of the Niger-Delta Development Commission as well as the plain wordings of the Act”.
The group said: “These self-styled ex-agitators that issued that unconvinced and legally vague and ambiguous 14-day ultimatum, in the persons of Ebi Wayas from Ayakoromo town in Burutu Local Government Area and the said supposed General Peter Aghogho, who claimed to be the President of Urhobo Youth Council and is also undoubtedly known to be from Warri South LGA of Delta State should be warned to desist from taking this path that may result in defiling the Federal Government’s attempt to reconstituting the substantive Board of the NDDC.
“What we need now is to get the Board reconstituted and that it is also the turn of Delta State to produce the Chairman of the Board. This parochialism of promoting one’s personal interest as against the general interest of Delta State cannot help us”.
According to One Delta Initiative, Section 2(1) of the NDDC Act that provides for the establishment of the governing board of the commission, empowered the President to appoint “persons of proven integrity and ability”, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, in consultation with the House of Representatives”.
The group noted that the NDDC Act stipulated that the Board members should comprise “one person who shall be an indigene of an oil producing area to represent each of Abia State, Akwa-Ibom State, Bayelsa State, Cross River State, Delta State, Edo State, Imo State, Ondo State and Rivers State; three persons to represent non-Oil mineral producing States provided that such membership should be drawn from the remaining geo-political zones which are not represented in the Commission; one representative of Oil producing companies in the Niger-Delta nominated by the Oil producing companies; one person to represent the Federal Ministry of Finance; one person to represent Federal Ministry of Environment; the managing Director of the Commission; two executive Directors”.
It further said that the NDDC Act provides that the office of the Board’s Chairman shall rotate amongst the member states of the commission in the alphabetical order of Abia State, Akwa-Ibom State, Bayelsa State, Cross River State, Delta State, Edo State, Imo State, Ondo State, and Rivers State.
“For purposes of emphasis, the position of the Chairman of the Board as captured in Section 2(1)(a) was not drafted in the NDDC Act to mean that a person must be an indigene of an oil producing area to qualify as a Chairman of the Board as is the case with Section 2(1)(b) where it was clearly mentioned that a person to represent each of the Niger-Delta States as envisaged in the Act must be an indigene of an oil producing area”, the group posited.
It maintained that there is no provision in the NDDC Act that subjects the President to take order from anyone, not even from an ex-agitator or in whatever name such a person is styled, before he can nominate and appoint a person into the NDDC Board.
The statement further reads: “The only requirement to the exercise of the President’s power to appoint a person as Chairman into the Board as provided under Section 4 is that he must appoint a person from an oil producing State which shall rotate in alphabetical order. Also, section 2(2) that provides that such appointment shall be subject to the confirmation of the Senate, in consultation with the House of Representatives.
“With all the above referred provisions consciously embedded into the NDDC Act, one can imagine if the draftsman of the NDDC Act was mistaken to have deliberately omitted in specifying whether the Chairman must be an indigene of an oil producing area or it was the intention of the draftsman that an indigene of an oil producing State in the South South Geo-political zone to produce the Chairman on a rotational basis.
“One very interesting lacuna of the NDDC Act is that an “oil producing area” was not even defined in the NDDC Act. For the avoidance of doubt, we refer any interested reader to check the interpretative section (Section 30) of the Act for yourself. From the foregoing, we state without reservation that President Buhari’s nomination and appointment of Lauretta Onochie is intra vires the provisions of the NDDC Act and as such the appointment do not need any form of interference and/or distraction in the name of some unfounded agitations from some paid agitators who styled themselves as ex-agitators.
“It should be recalled that in recent time, one of the topnotch cry or call for justice in the Niger-Delta is for Mr. President to reconstitute a substantive NDDC Board in line with the NDDC Act. These calls became imperative as the interim administrations were unknown to the enabling law and also cannot effectively carried out the functions of a substantive Board. So many leaders including human rights organisations spoke in this regard, including but not limited to the various Niger Delta States Governors; Kingsley Otuaro, the Deputy Governor of Delta State; Chief Edwin K. Clark; High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo (Tompolo); traditional rulers from the Niger Delta; Chief (Mrs) Rita Lori; various youth leaders in the Niger Delta; Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, etc.
“History in recent event is still very fresh in our memory on how the then Minister of Niger Delta, H.E. Sen. Godswill Akpabio went to Oporoza at the eve of the ultimatum issued by our foremost Niger Delta agitator and the GOC of the struggle, Tompolo, regarding the unwarranted delay in reconstituting the NDDC Board. The very essence of these calls were to see to it that a substantive Board is constituted to carry on the legitimate business of the Commission,. Now that the Board members are appointed, awaiting confirmation by the Senate, all well meaning Niger Deltans are eagerly awaiting a substantive Board to be reconstituted in no distant time. These political and egocentrically motivated publications from some self-styled ex-agitators who lacked the authority to speak for their immediate community, talk more of the Niger Delta region, are unnecessary at this point in time.
“The call for the replacement of Lauretta Onochie with Bernard Okumagba on the ground that Onochie is from a non-oil producing area of Delta State can best be classed as a fallacy of ambiguity since Bernard Okumagba is also not from a host community to any oil company, whether mining or prospecting, in the oil and gas industry. That was the basis upon which Chief Rita Lori, CHURAC amongst others fought Bernard Okumagba’s unsuccessful appointment to becoming the Managing Director of NDDC prior to the installation of interim administration under the watch of the then Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio.
“We seek to use this medium to drum our support for Mr. President’s initiative to reconstituting the Board and nominated a person of repute from Delta State to Chair the substantive Board of the Commission in line with the NDDC Act. We think and believe that Lauretta Onochie is a Deltan with proven integrity and ability and has the capacity and qualifications to chair the Board”.
